Unhappy Melo to ESPN after low NBA ranking: ‘Don’t be so blatant with the disrespect’

ajike September 14, 2017

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ESPN came out with its top rankings of NBA players, and Knicks (for now) forward Carmelo Anthony came in at No. 64. Many NBA experts couldn’t believe the ranking, especially when you see Lonzo Ball, a rookie, is above him.

Lonzo Ball ranked before Carmelo. I hope Carmelo has this hanging up on his wall. @espn 😧😧 pic.twitter.com/uNctCrkxoW

— JRSportBrief (@JRSportBrief) September 12, 2017

The low ranking was a topic of discussion for most of Tuesday morning, and eventually Melo chimed in. Before we get to his reaction, we should point out he’s been upset at rankings in the past. Last season, Slam ranked him as the 15th best player, which is pretty generous.

But Anthony was upset at that, too, saying at the time it was “disrespect.” He added, “I wasn’t actually upset. I looked at it and [thought] it was disrespectful. I’m self-motivated. I don’t really need that to motivate me, someone sitting at a desk at Slam.”

While he claimed he wasn’t upset at Slam, he did seem upset at ESPN.

Can’t Make Sense Out Of Non Sense!
“A certain darkness is needed to see the stars.”@espn Don’t be so Blatant with the disrespect#LineEmUp pic.twitter.com/NIWiwL1RMj

— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) September 12, 2017

Anthony wasn’t the only player mad about rankings on Tuesday.

Sports Illustrated is also doing player rankings and placed the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan at 36th after he was 46th last season. He took exception to them in 2016, and he sent a subtweet to them in 2017.